Adrian Toomes' Crew
: "Look, times are changing and we're the only people selling these hi-tech weapons." : - Shocker Adrian Toomes' Crew, formerly known as Bestman Salvage, was a cleanup crew that held a contract to salvage any incidents occurring in New York City. Following the Battle of New York, the crew were replaced by the Department of Damage Control, causing Toomes, still in possession of Chitauri technology from their initial clean-up, to commission a specialised exo-suit created for him. Over the next few years, Toomes used the suit to steal artifacts collected by Damage Control from Avengers battles, which he had the Tinkerer modify. The crew then sold weapons made from Chitauri, Dark Elf, S.H.I.E.L.D., Ultron and HYDRA technology and sold them to buyers on the black market. History Battle of New York In the wake of the Battle of New York, Bestman Salvage, who held the contract to clean up any incidents in New York City, began salvaging the Leviathan crash at Grand Central Station. Having shown Phineas Mason a picture that his daughter had drawn, Toomes oversaw his men, telling Herman Schultz to use the Chitauri technology to take apart one of the crashed Chitauri Chariots before he then confronted Jackson Brice for arriving late on the job. He was then approached by Anne Marie Hoag and a group of agents, telling him that he was to withdraw his men from the area as the Department of Damage Control had secured a contract to clean up after the Chitauri Invasion. As Toomes explained that he held the contract to clean up incidents in the city, he concluded that they were allowed to be there. Toomes started begging her to let him have the contract, as him and other workers have family to support. When Foster, one of Hoag's men mockingly told him to not overextend in his work, Toomes punched him in the face, causing the guards around Hoag to draw their guns and order Toomes and his men to leave the area. Hoag told Toomes that he could talk to Tony Stark about the contracts if he wished to continue fighting for the job. Turning to Crime Toomes watched the television report on how Tony Stark had now created Damage Control in the wake of the Battle of New York to clean up the mess left behind. Toomes furiously disappointed, Herman Schultz commented on the report on how the system was now rigged against them all, with Schultz noting the Avengers were now being paid to clean up their own mess, they were left unemployed. As they watched the report, Randy Vale discovered that the group still had a large amount of Chitauri technology left over which had not been handed back over to Anne Marie Hoag and her own team to be stored away. With Jackson Brice refusing to haul it, Toomes then decided to keep it, convincing the group to turn to a life of crime by keeping the weapons, modifying them, and selling it in order to make a living. Toomes worked alongside Schultz, Brice and Mason to create and sell advanced, hybrid technology, using his own exo-suit created by Mason to hijack Damage Control trucks to gain more items. Following the Battle of Greenwich, the Battle at the Triskelion and the Battle of Sokovia, the crew expanded from using solely Chitauri equipment to acquiring Dark Elf, S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA and Ultron technology as well. Over the next few years, Vulture continued to pilfer below the radar, flying into his base one night and proudly announcing to Mason that their business was good. Spider-Man's Interference Arms Dealing A few months later, Toomes' arms dealing business was still going strong. However, he received a call from Herman Schultz that Spider-Man had come across their arms deal with Aaron Davis and was pursuing him. Toomes quickly donned the Vulture Suit and flew off to Schultz's location. Open arriving at his crew's speeding van, he spotted Spider-Man about to catch the group. Swooping down, he seized Spider-Man in his talons, flying hundreds of feet into the air above New York City, only for the Spider-Man Suit to deploy a parachute, ripping the young hero out of Toomes' grip. Seeing that his men had made a successful getaway, Toomes flew back to his location. Toomes successfully landed back in his base, removed his Vulture Suit and waited for his men to return. Jackson Brice and Herman Schultz managed to get back to the base, Brice thrilled with the chase. Toomes confronted Brice, asking him how many times he had told Brice not to fire the weapons in public, with Brice defending his actions saying that he had to move the weapons. Toomes became fed up with Brice's recklessness and attitude, telling Brice that he was fired. Brice threatened Toomes, saying that he will inform the authorities about their operation. Brice then asked Toomes what would happen if he told Doris Toomes about his business. Toomes, who promptly picked up a weapon and shot Brice with it, instantly disintegrating him. Confused and shocked about his actions, he asked Tinkerer if he had picked up an Anti-Gravity Gun, only to have picked up a Chitauri Gun instead. Toomes walked over to Brice's ashes and picked up the Shocker's Gauntlet and passed it to Schultz. Hijacking the Damage Control Truck Several days later, the crew received a tip that a truck full of confiscated technology was heading to the Damage Control Headquarters by the way of Maryland. With the Shocker and Tinkererin a van nearby, Vulture stealthily intercepted the truck. Anchoring his Wings to the truck, Vulture used a Matter Phase Shifter to enter the truck's trailer. Taking in the sight, Vulture started filling a duffel bag with the technology. To his surprise, however, Spider-Man showed up, causing Vulture to quickly exit the truck, seeing that Spider-Man was about to jump through the wormhole he created, Vulture shut of the Matter Phase Disrupter, sealing Spider-Man in the truck. Vulture quickly made his escape, angrily leaving his stolen technology behind. Ambush at the Staten Island Ferry The next day, Toomes and Herman Schultz made their way on the Staten Island Ferry. Schultz left Toomes dealt with their new buyer Mac Gargan. When Schultz radioed Toomes to inform him that Spider-Man had interrupted the deal, Toomes quickly ran down to his van where his suit was being kept. When the FBI showed up to arrest Gargan and Schultz, Toomes donned his Suit and grabbed a Chitauri Gun. Bursting through the van's doors, Vulture fired upon the agents and Spider-Man. Toomes escaped with Schultz from his webbing restraints, Vulture told him to get off the ferry as they were retreating. Spider-Man fired his Web-Shooters at him, activating a Taser web when one of the strands managed to hit him. Vulture dropped the gun, which was reacting violently with the electricity, causing it to fire multiple lasers that cut the ferry in half. Hijacking of the Stark Cargo Plane Adrian Toomes' suspicions about Peter Parker's true identity were confirmed, although he kept his observations quiet and inconspicuous. Once Liz Toomes exited the car upon arrival, Toomes told her to give him a few minutes alone with Parker as he wished to give him the "dad talk". Once she left, he pulled a gun from the glove compartment and confronted Parker, asking him whether Liz was aware of his duality and sparing his life as gratitude saving her life. He warned Parker to stop pursuing him or else he would kill him and everybody he loved. Despite Toomes' warning, Peter Parker refused to back down and, following a fight with the Shocker tracked Toomes back to his hideout with help from Ned Leeds and confronted him. Later on, Spider-Man confronted Toomes in his lair and tries to justify his actions to Spider-Man, explaining that everything he had done was to support his family and claiming that the wealthy and powerful care nothing for the common people like themselves. When Spider-Man refused to listen again, Toomes summoned his Vulture Exo-Suitto break the support beams around his lair, trapping Spider-Man under a pile of rubble and leaving him to suffocate. With Parker seemingly being crushed to death as his hideout fell apart around him, Toomes stepped outside and donned his Vulture Wings which had been upgraded by the Tinkerer. Vulture flew after and quickly caught up with and entered the last cargo plane leaving Stark Tower holding the equipment he planned to steal. Speaking to the Tinkerer during his flight, Vulture noted that the new Exo-Suit felt like it was dragging extra weight. Grabbing onto the side of the plane, Vulture cut himself inside using his gadgets and deployed a decoy drone to throw the plane's ground control, which Happy Hogan was monitoring, off his scent during the heist. Entering the plane, Toomes discovered it was filled with even more than he could have hoped for, boxes of Chitauri weaponry, robotic parts of Ultron and well as various armors from the Iron Legion, all of which would be worth millions on the black market. Toomes began going through the boxes, throwing aside the one of Iron Man's old helmets to get to the Chitauri Guns. While attempting to alter the plane's course and marveling at the Avengers' equipment, Vulture discovered that Spider-Man had survived their previous encounter, having broken out of the rubble and quietly followed him and was now attempting to knock his exo-suit off the plane. Duel at Coney Island Furious, Vulture fought against Spider-Man outside the plane, using his claws on his suit to try and scratch at Spider-Man. During the battle, Vulture destroyed one of the engines in the process causing the plane to lose control. Spider-Man had successfully managed to use his Web-Shooters to redirect the craft away from New York City, crash-landing it on the beach at Coney Island. As Spider-Man slowly regained consciousness after the crash, he took his mask off and looked around at the rubble. Because the crash made his ears begin to ring loudly, Vulture was able to pounce at Spider-Man, who was caught off-guard. Vulture then picked Spider-Man up with his talons, and slammed him into the ground repeatedly. He was about kill Spider-Man when he spotted a crate full of Arc Reactors. He dropped Spider-Man and grabbed the crate with his talons, and attempted to escape. However, the radiation emitting from the Reactors caused the Chitauri Technology in the suit to short-circuit. Spider-Man tried to pull Vulture away from the arc reactors before the suit exploded, but he was too late and ignored his pleas to save him, over-driven by greed. His suit went up in a ball of flames. Just after Vulture crashed, Spider-Man ran into the debris and pulled him out alive. Powerless without his suit and weak from the explosion, Spider-Man was able to tie Vulture to a damaged car, where he was later found and arrested by Happy Hogan and the FBI. Category:Organisations Category:Teams